Adjustable nozzle for jet snow melters



Jun 1964 J. J. PETLAK ETAL ADJUSTABLE NOZZLE FOR JET snow MELTERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 25, 1962 INVENTORS JOSEPH J. PETLAK 8- ROBERT REICHHELM ATTORNEY.

June 9, 1964 J J PETLAK ETAL 3,136,488

ADJUSTABLE NOZZLE FOR JET SNOW MELTERS Filed May 25, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 O X/J United States Patent Office 3,136,488 Patented June 9, 1964 3,136,488 ADJUSTABLE NOZZLE FOR JET SNOW MELTIiRS Joseph J. Petlak and Robert Reichhelm, The Bristol Sheet Metal Co., Wallingford, Conn. Filed May 25, 1962, Ser. No. 197,731 1 Claim. ((Il. 239-502) This invention relates to an improved and adjustable nozzle for snow melting devices using the exhaust of a turbo-jet engine as its source of heat and more particularly to a jet snow melting system in which the jet engine and its nozzle as a unit are carried by and may be adjustably positioned with respect to a separable Straddle Truck by which the jet engine is transported.

The ability to adjust the axis of the jet engine so that both its elevation above the ground and its inclination relative to the ground can be hydraulically or mechanical- -ly altered under the control of the straddle truck operator, permits simplification of the nozzle and allows it to be directly rigidly attached to the exhaust duct of the jet engine. Thus, it becomes only necessary to provide a diffuser chamber which shapes the round exhaust jet into a flat jet or trajectory, and to provide a deflector vane or vanes which has three directional positions, namely, left deflection, right deflection, and straight ahead for road or aircraft landing strip snow removal operations.

There will also be disclosed herein a modified nozzle providing for variable deflection between right and left directions that may be effected from remote control.

This design assures a minimum cost of manufacture and maintenance because the only elements which are subjected to the direct blast of the jet are simple vanes which may be easily replaced.

It is, therefore, the principal object of the present invention to provide an adjustable jet blast snow melting nozzle having a minimum number of parts for shaping the exhaust of a jet engine into a selectably directed sheet shaped stream best suitable for snow melting operations.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an adjustable snow melting nozzle in which the deflector vane or vanes are easily adjusted and replaced.

It is still another object of the invention to provide adjustable snow melting nozzle which has simple and positive locking means for its deflecting vane.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a multiple vane deflecting nozzle capable of synchronized remote control.

Still other objects of the invention are to provide a jet blast snow melting nozzle, having the above objects in mind, which is of simple construction, easy to install, durable, compact, that will lie within the confines of the supporting structure, eflicient and effective in use.

For still a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an overall view in elevation of a straddle truck carrying an adjustably positioned jet engine, to the exhaust duct of which is secured the preferred embodiment of the subject adjustable nozzle,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the subject adjustable nozzle,

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the device of FIG. 2, and

FIG. 4 is a view in elevation taken on line 44 of FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 is the perspective view of a modified form of the invention which has multiple vanes in the nozzle,

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary plan view of a corner portion of the nozzle of FIG. 5,

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view taken through the plane 7-7 of FIG. 6, and

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary plan view similar to that of FIG. 6 but showing the control cables and the entire array of vanes in their leftward deflected position.

Referring now to the FIGURES 1, 2, 3 and 4, 6 represents the control cab of a motorized straddle truck 7 which is adjustably supporting an aircraft type jet engine 8 having an exhaust duct 9, an intake duct 11 and a fuel tank 12. The straddle truck may have its fuel tank 7, a ladder 6 to provide access to the cab 6 and head lights 10 for night operations. A nozzle adapter ring 13 is secured to and sealed upon the exhaust duct 9. This ring 13 supports and is part of a diffuser chamber portion 14 which terminates in an upper nozzle plate 16 and a lower parallel nozzle plate 17. Thus, the shape of diffuser chamber 14 is such as to form the transition between a duct having circular cross-section at the adapter ring 13 to a duct having rectangular cross section between the parallel nozzle 16 and 17, both of which having equiangular triangular forward extensions.

An exhaust gas deflecting vane 18 is pivoted in upper nozzle plate 16 in a bearing hole 19, and in lower plate 17 in bearing hole 21 by means of a bearing shaft 22 which is pinned to vane 18 by a cotter pin 23. After passing through lower plate bearing 21, vane 18, and bearing 19, the vane shaft 22 is bent to form a hand lever 24 having a handle 26, by which the vane 18 can be turned and the position of this lever 24 determines the position of the deflecting vane 18.

In the position shown in FIG. 3, the deflection vane 18 is seated against a lip 27 in the open end of the diffuser chamber 14 and secured thereagainst by the pressure of a removable U-shaped locking pin 28 that passes downwardly through holes 29 in upper nozzle plate 16 so as to lock vane 18 against lip 27. In the position of vane 18 shown in FIG. 3 the extremely hot exhaust gases of the jet engine are deflected to the right of the axis of the nozzle as indicated by the arrows.

When vane 18 is in the mid-position shown in FIG. 2, and the locking pin 28 is dropped intov holes 31 in the upper nozzle plate 16 so as to straddle vane 18 to lock it in the non-deflecting central position the exhaust gases are divided and move straight ahead along opposite sides of the vane 18 and directly forwardly of the nozzle to extreme distances to blow and melt the snow in the pathway of the truck.

a When vane 18 is moved to the position for left deflection it seats against lip 32 of diffuser chamber 14 and is locked by dropping pin 28 into holes 33 in the upper nozzle plate 16. v i

In operation, the jet engine 8 is secured to and under the control of the straddle truck 7 and its operator in cab 6, engine 8 is started, causing extremely hot exhaust gases to flow through adapter ring 13 into the diffusing chamber 14 and between the parallel nozzle plates 16 and 17 and trajected outwardly in a direction determined by the position of deflector 18.

The integral rigid assembly of tank 12, duct 11, engine 8, adapter ring 13, duct 12 and nozzle plates 16 and 17 may now be vectorially positioned with respect to the axis of the straddle truck 7 by the means (not shown in this application) under control of the operator in cab 6 until the emergent exhaust gases form the desired shoot of a snow melting blast of hot gases into the snow formations being removed.

When it is desired to change the mode of operation of the subject nozzle between right, left, or straight ahead operation, the jet engine 8 is preferably stopped although the handle 26 can be reached from a point in rear of the nozzle opening, and vane 18 is moved to and locked into the desired position by the above described manipulation of locking pin 28 and lever adjusting hand lever 24 for the deflecting vane 18.

Referring now to the modified form of the invention shown in FIGS-5,. 6,- 7 and 8, 41 designates a nozzle adapter ring which is secured to and sealed to the jet; engine exhaust duct 9. Adapter ring 41 supports and is part of a difluser chamber portion 42 which terminates in an upper nozzle plate 43 and a lower parallel nozzle plate 44. Thus the shape of chamber 42 is such as to form the transition between the duct 9 having a circular cross section at the adapter ring 41 to the diffuser having rectangular cross-section between the parallel exhaust. nozzle plates 43 and 44.

V A plurality of deflecting vanes 46 are each provided with an upwardly-extending pivot pin 47 and a downwardly-extending pivot pin 48 coaxially secured thereto by welding. In addition, each vane 46 is provided with an upwardly-extending drive pin 49 secured to its upper edge by welding remote from the upper pivot pin 47.

These deflection vanes 46 are all pivoted at equally spaced intervals between the parallel exhaust nozzle plates 43 and 44 so that each pin 47 pivots in a hole 51, FIG. 7 of the upper plate 43, and each pin 48 pivots in a hole 52 of the lower plate 44.

The end journal pins 47 on each side are each provided with a pulley 53 with an integral hub 54 and the end drive pins 49 respectively freely pass through a peripheral hole in the corresponding pulley 53.

All of the deflecting vanes 46 are coupled together in angulation about their pivot pins 47 and 48 by a tie bar 56 through which each drive pin 49 freely passes 'at equal intervals. The pivot pinconnections are made secure by cotter pins as can be seen from the drawings. A set of washers 57, FIG. 7, serve to space the tie bar 56 from vanes 46.

Thus, under the synchronizing coupling of bar 56 all the deflecting vanes 46 and the end pulleys 53 rotate in phase about their pivot pins 47 and 48.

Adjusting cables 58 and 59 are respectively secured to the periphery pulleys 53 so as to provide a remote mechanical control means for positioning deflecting vanes 46 to deflect the gases to various angles to the right or left of the center.

The operations of the device illustrated in FIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8 is as follows: With jet engine 8 secured to and under control of the straddle truck 7 and its operator in cab 6, engine 8 is started causing hot gases to flow from the engine exhaust 9 through ring 41 into dilfuser chamber 42. Thence, the hot gases pass between the parallel nozzle plates 43 and 44 and out of the nozzle in a direction determined by the parallel positions of deflector plates 46.

When it is desired to cause the exhaust gas sheet or flow to the left of the operator, he pulls on cable 58. Conversely, pulling on cable 59 will deflect the exhaust gases to. the right of the operator. By pulling on both cables 58 and 59 the vanes 46 may be positioned centrally as shown in FIG. 6 to leave the gases undeflected for head-on melting of the snow inthe directed path of the straddle truck. The snow is blown and melted in quick order.

It should now be apparent that a nozzle of simple construction and of a minimum number of parts has been provided that is adapted to diliuse and direct extremely hot gases from an aircraft jet type engine in a manner that snow lying either directly in the direction of travel of the straddle truck and the jet engine with its directconnected nozzle or to the left or right thereof to melt side snow banks can be quickly and effectively disposed of. vhile various changes may be made in the detailed construction, it shall be understood that such changes shall be'within the spirit and scope of the present invention as definedby the appended claim.

, What is claimed is:

. A nozzle for melting snow comprising an adapter ring adapted to be connected to the exhaust duct of an air craft type jet engine, a diffusion chamber extending from said ring, said chamber comprising a substantially triangular bottom plate, outwardly diverging side walls decreasing in height, a ridged top wall terminating in a downwardly inclined triangular portion, the base edges of the triangular bottom plate and the top triangular portion extending in parallel spaced-apart relation, a bottom nozzle plate connected to the base of said bottom triangular'plate, a top nozzle plate connected to said top triangular portion, said nozzle plates extending in spaced parallel relation, rectangular end pieces connected to the truncated apices of the side wall portions closing the space between the ends of said nozzle plates, a plurality of elongated flat rectangular deflector vanes, each having an upper pivot pin and a lower pivot pin, said pins being vertically aligned, means journalling said upper and lower pivot pins in said upper and lower nozzle plates respectively for vertical pivotal mounting of said vanes, a pulley axially mounted on the upper pivot pin on the end vane on each side, a drive pin connected to the upper edge of each vane exteriorly of the upper nozzle plate, a tie bar connecting said drive pins, each pulley having an opening adjacent its periphery, the end drive pin at each end extending into the opening in the adjacent pulley, washers spacing the tie bar from the tops of said vanes, and control cables connected to each pulley whereby pivotal rotation of said pulley in either direction will correspondingly deflect said vanes to direct the flow of exhaust gases emanating from the jet engine through the diffuser chamber between the nozzle plates.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,239,373 Farmer et al. L Sept. 4, 1917 1,706,020 Barfoed Mar. 19, 1929 1,842,244 Boyle Jan. 19, 1932 2,180,269 Wisher Nov. 14, 1939 2,220,082 Daugherty Nov. 5, 1940 2,691,986 Kirby Oct. 19, 1954 2,868,228 Russell Jan. 13, 1959 3,009,644 Meadowcroft et a1 Nov. 21, 1961 3,041,748 Wetzel July 3, 1962 

